Mr Chaudhry-van der Velde said: “Despite the RMT’s best efforts to scupper this iconic event and create misery for the tens of thousands of people who look forward to it all year, we’ve developed a timetable aimed at getting as many people between central Liverpool and Aintree as we normally do on Grand National day.”

Rail Minister Paul Maynard said it was “disappointing” that the strike was going ahead and called for conciliatory talks.